Venus suffers another early exit, loses in 2nd round at French Open
PARIS -- Venus Williams was eliminated from the French Open in the second round, the eighth time in her last nine major tournaments that she has failed to win more than one match.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion won the first set and was up an early break in the second against Anna Schmiedlova. But the 19-year-old Slovak responded by taking eight of nine games and won 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Since reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2011, Williams has been eliminated in the first or second round at every Grand Slam tournament she has played except the 2013 Australian Open, where she reached the third round.
At 33 years old, Williams is far from her best. But the American has been having a solid season in 2014, winning a hard-court title in Dubai and reaching the final in Auckland.
Against Schmiedlova, the 29th-seeded Williams ended up with 47 unforced errors. Schmiedlova had only 20.
"I felt like this was a match that I was most likely going to win. I'm sure, I don't know how Serena felt, but I'm sure she feels like that every time she goes on the court," Venus said. "So I think our expectation was to play in the next round."
